Identification verification with user challenge

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for conducting user identity verification are disclosed. An example method includes requesting, from a user, a name and user identifying information associated with the provided name. The example method also includes querying a trusted database based on the provided name and the user identifying information and determining if a match exists in the database between the provided name and the user identifying information. In the event a match exists, the example method includes presenting a challenge to the user, the challenge being based on the user identifying information and determining a verification status of the user&#39;s identity based on a result of the challenge. The example method further includes designating the user&#39;s identity as verified or unverified in accordance with the verification status.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This description relates generally to identification of a user, such asan online user, using data verification and a user challenge.

BACKGROUND

As part of the rapid growth of Internet and World Wide Web use, therehas been an ever increasing growth in the availability of onlineservices. Such online services include, for example, online bankingonline email services, online dating services and online socialnetworks. A number of providers may provide a number of such services.These services are, however, subject to fraud and abuse. For example,some users may sign up for online services using false identificationinformation with the intent to misuse or abuse such services. Forinstance, someone may sign up for numerous email accounts that are usedto generate unsolicited commercial emails, known as SPAM. In othercases, someone may use false information to sign up for an onlineservice with the intent of distributing materials for which theparticular online service is not intended. For example, someone may signup with an online social networking service with the intent to use thesocial networking service to distribute commercial material. In somecases, such attempts to misuse or abuse online services is automated,where a computer program is used to sign up for such online services andcarry out an improper use. Yet another type of misuse that may occur ispayment fraud, such as a user attempting to make an online purchaseusing stolen credit card information.

In order to reduce the amount of fraud and/or abuse, online serviceproviders may use a number of techniques. For instance, an onlineservice may require an individual attempting to sign up for an onlineservice to provide some proof of their identity or perform an actionthat provides some level of confidence that the individual's intent isnot to misuse the online service or services. For instance, in the caseof automated attempts to access an online service, many online serviceproviders use what is know as CAPTCHA technology, where a distortedseries of characters is presented on a graphical interface and access tothe service (or services) is allowed only if the correct sequence ofcharacters is entered by a user and returned to the online serviceprovider's server that is monitoring access to the online services. Anumber of other techniques also exist. A drawback of current approachesis that they do not provide sufficient assurance that a user seeking toaccess an online service is who they claim to be. Another drawback ofcurrent approaches it that abusers of online services constantly come upwith ways of circumventing fraud protection techniques, such asautomated ways of defeating CAPTCHA technology.

Users of online services may also obtain different services fromdifferent online service providers. When requesting services from suchonline service providers, a user will set up a profile with eachindividual online service provider. Each individual online serviceprovider may or may not verify the information included in a user'sprofile created exclusively to access services from a specific onlineservice provider. Regardless, of how the individual online serviceproviders maintain, process and make use of user profile data, a userhaving to recreate (and verify, if applicable) a user profile for eachonline service user wishes to access online services from may befrustrating and time consuming for the user.

SUMMARY

In a first general aspect, an example computer-implemented method, whichmay be implemented by an online service provider system, includesrequesting, from a user, a name and user identifying informationassociated with the provided name. The example method also includesquerying a trusted database based on the provided name and the useridentifying information and determining if a match exists in thedatabase between the provided name and the user identifying information.In the event a match exists, the example method includes presenting achallenge to the user, the challenge being based on the user identifyinginformation and determining a verification status of the user's identitybased on a result of the challenge. The example method further includesdesignating the user's identity as verified or unverified in accordancewith the verification status. In a second aspect, the above method maybe embodied as software instructions on a computer readable medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of anetwork.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a userprofile.

FIGS. 3A-C are flowcharts illustrating example embodiments of methods.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a userinterface.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example embodiment of a userinterface.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a financialtransaction that may be used in conjunction with the example methodsillustrated in FIGS. 3, 7 and 8.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another example embodiment of amethod.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a computer device and a mobile computerdevice that can be used to implement the techniques described here.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a system100 in which identification verification using data verification and auser challenge may be implemented. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a user 110may use a user terminal 120 to gain access to an online service provider130 (e.g., a server configured to provide online services). The userterminal 120 may take a number of forms. For instance, the user terminal120 may be a personal computer, an internet appliance or a web-enabledmobile device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA). The userterminal 120 may communicate with the online service provider 130 via adata network, such as the Internet or a wireless data network, forexample.

In order to grant the user 110 access to an online service offered bythe online service provider 130, the online service provider 130 mayprovide one or more interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces) to theuser terminal 120 over the data network. Such graphical user interfaces(GUIs) may request that the user 110 enter information about himself orherself via the GUIs and then transmit that identifying information tothe online service provider 130. For instance, an online serviceprovider 130 may provide a GUI requesting the user to provide a name anduser identifying information, such as described herein.

Once the user 110 has entered information in response to the request,the entered information then may be communicated to the online serviceprovider 130 via the data network, such as in response to the userclicking a button in an appropriate GUI to transmit the enteredinformation. In an example embodiment, the user identifying informationmay include information associated with the user that can be verified,such as a mailing address, a residence address, a home telephone number,a mobile telephone number, a business telephone number, a facsimiletelephone number, a bank account number, a credit card account number,an email address, or any other item of information associated with aperson, where the information is subject to verification. The useridentifying information may be verified in accordance with thetechniques described herein and then used to challenge the user todetermine whether or not to designate an online identity of the personas trusted or verified.

In an example embodiment, the online service provider 130 may use theinformation provided by the user 110 to query a trusted database inorder to verify that the information provided by the user agrees withdata contained in the trusted database 150. For instance, if the user110 provides a name, address and phone number, the online serviceprovider may query a telephone directory database that is maintained bya telecommunication service provider.

In response to the query from the online service provider 130, thetrusted database 150 may determine that the name, address and phonenumber provided by the user match information contained in the trusteddatabase 150. For example, the trusted database 150 may determine thatthe name, address and phone number provided in the query (as receivedfrom the user 110) correspond with an actual person listed in thetelephone directory database. In this case, the trusted database 150, inresponse to the query, may inform the online service provider 130 that amatch was found in the trusted database 150. In this situation, theonline service provider 130 would have a high level of confidence thatthe provided name, address and phone number were not falsified andcorrespond with the person whose name was provided to the online serviceprovider 130 by the user 110.

Alternatively, the trusted database 150 may determine that there is amismatch in the data included in the query from the online serviceprovider 130. For instance, the phone number may exist in the telephonedirectory database but may be assigned to a customer with a differentname and/or address. In other instances, a mismatch may occur where anaddress is included in the database but the name and/or telephone numberassociated with that address are inaccurate or do not match theinformation provided by the user 110. In such instances, the trusteddatabase 150 may indicate the data mismatch to the online serviceprovider 130 in response to the query.

In other instances, the data provided by the user 110 may not match anyinformation in the trusted database 150. For instance, the trusteddatabase may not have any records corresponding with the provided name,address or phone number. In such a situation, the trusted database 150may indicate that no data exists in response to the query.

Depending on the response received to the query from the trusteddatabase 150, the online service provider 130 may take a number ofappropriate actions. For example, in cases where the trusted database150 indicates a data mismatch, the online service provider 130 maynotify the user 110 (e.g., via a GUI communicated to, and displayed onthe user terminal 120) that the provided data could not be verified. Insuch instances, in example embodiments, the user 110 may be asked tocorrect the provided data or may be informed that access to the onlineservice is denied. Of course, other approaches are possible.

In another embodiment, if the trusted database 150 indicates to theonline service provider 130, in response to the query, that no dataexists, the online service provider 130 may, again, take a number ofappropriate actions. For instance, the online service provider 130 maysend another query to another trusted database to attempt to verify thedata provided by the user 110. Alternatively, the online serviceprovider 130 may inform the user 110 (e.g., via a GUI) that the provideddata could not be verified. The online service provider 130 may thenrequest that the user correct the information, provide additionalinformation for verification purposes or inform the user 110 that accessto the online service or services is denied, as some examples.

In yet another embodiment, if the trusted database 150, in response tothe query from the online service provider 130, indicates that a matchexists for the data provided by the user 110, the online serviceprovider 130 may then challenge the user 110 based on the verifiedinformation. Such a user challenge may be done in a number of ways, andthe techniques described herein for conducting a user challenge aregiven by way of example. In one example embodiment, the online serviceprovider 130 may provide a verification code to the user through a userchannel 140, such as by calling a verified home telephone number, andrequire that the user return a correct version of the verification codeusing another channel, such as the user terminal 120, to prove that theonline user 110 has access to a channel associated with the verifieduser indentifying information. In such an approach, at least one of thechannels used in the challenge would be associated with verified useridentifying information.

In such an approach, if the user successfully completes the challenge,then, because the name provided by the user 110 has been verified to beassociated with the user identifying information and the user 110 hasproven access to a communication channel associated with the verifiedinformation, the individual may be considered to be verified/trusted andhighly likely to be that individual. In other embodiments, the onlineservice provider 130 may provide a verification code to the user 110through an channel not associated with verified user identifyinginformation (an unverified channel) and then require that that the useraccurately supply the provided code to the online service provider 130via a channel associated with verified user identifying information (averified channel) to demonstrate that the user 110 has access to theverified channel.

For instance, the user 110 may be supplied a verification code in ashort messaging system (SMS) message that is sent to an unverifiedmobile phone number. The user 110 may then provide the verification codeto the online service provider 130 using a verified home phone number,where caller identification information is used to confirm use of theverified phone number.

Such a verification code may be provided to, and returned from the user110 in a number of ways. As noted above, in order to demonstrate thatthe user 110 has access to a verified channel, in an example embodiment,the verification code is either provided to the user via a verifiedchannel or returned via the verified channel. For instance, theverification code may be included in a GUI provided to the (unverified)user terminal 120 by the online service provider 130 and returned to theonline service provider 130 by the user 110 via a verified telephonenumber (land or mobile), or via another verified channel.

Alternatively, if a telephone number provided by the user 110corresponds with a mobile telephone, the verification code may beprovided to the user 110 via a short messaging system (SMS) message sentto the mobile telephone after the mobile telephone number is verified.The user 110 may then return the verification via a GUI displayed on the(unverified) user terminal 120, for example. In such approaches, theuser 110 demonstrates that he or she is able to receive a verificationcode via one channel (e.g., either a verified channel or an unverifiedchannel), has access to the verified channel, and can return theverification code through the alternative channel (e.g., eitherunverified channel or the verified channel, respectively).

In other embodiments, verified channels (e.g., different resources) maybe used to provide and receive a verification code. For instance, in anexample embodiment, a verification code may be provided to a user 100 byan online service provider 130 via a verified telephone number and theuser 100 may return the verification code to the online service provider130 via a verified email address, where the email address may beverified using techniques similar to those described above (e.g., usinga trusted database of email addresses and corresponding names of emailaccount holders).

In still other embodiments, the verification code may be provided to theuser in an email sent to a verified email address. In yet otherembodiments, a phone call may be placed to the user 110 at a verifiedphone number and the verification code may be provided to the user 110via the called telephone. In still other embodiments, the verificationcode may be provided to the user 110 by sending a physical mailer (e.g.,a postcard or letter) to a verified mailing address. Still otherembodiments may include sending a verification code via an amountdeposited in a verified bank account or by making a small charge orrefund to a credit card account and including the verification code in atransaction description for the charge or refund. Of course, othertechniques for providing a verification code to a user are possible.

In the above example approaches, once the user 110 has received theverification code, in like fashion as discussed above, the user 110 maythen respond to the online service provider 130 to demonstrate that theuser 110 has access to the verified channel either by demonstrating thatthe user 110 received the verification code via the verified channel orby providing the correct verification code to the online serviceprovider 130 using the verified channel.

A number of techniques may be used for the user 110 to return theprovided verification code to the online service provider 130, and theuser 110 need not return the verification code through the same channelthrough which the user received the code as long as one of the resourcesused to provide or return the verification code to the online serviceprovider is a verified channel. For instance, the user 110 may provide averification code to the online service provider 130 by entering theverification code using a telephone that is associated with a verifiedphone number.

In another example embodiment, the user 110 may provide a verificationcode to the online service provider 130 by entering the verificationcode using a GUI provided by the online service provider 130 to the userterminal 120. In still another example embodiment, the user 110 mayprovide a verification code to the online service provider 130 bysending the verification code to the online service provider in an emailsent from a verified email address. Depending on the particularembodiment, other techniques may be used for the user 110 to communicatea verification code to the online service provider 130. In suchapproaches, different channels are used to receive and return theverification code, with at least one of the channels being a verifiedchannel.

In an example embodiment, when the online service provider 130 receivesa verification code from the user 110 (user verification code), theonline service provider 130 may then compare the user verification codewith the original verification code (provided to the user 110 by theonline service provider 130). If the user verification code matches theoriginal verification code, the online service provider 130 may thendetermine that the user 110 has access to the verified user channelthrough which the online service provider 130 sent the verification codeto the user 110, or through which the user 110 returned the verificationcode to the online service provider 130.

As a result of such a match, the online service provider 130 may thendetermine that the user 110 either is the person associated with theverified data or is a person who has access to the personal informationabout the person associated with the data. As a result of such adetermination, the online service provider 130 may grant the user 110access to the online service or services provided by the online serviceprovider 130. For instance, the online service provider 130 may grantthe user 110 access to protected functionality, may grant the userunrestricted access to one or more online services, and/or may grant theuser 100 a “trusted” status/badge.

However, if the user verification code does not match the originalverification code, the online service provider 130 may then determinethat the user 110 does not, in fact, have access to the verified userchannel. In such a situation, the online service provider 130 may denythe user 110 access to any online services provided by the onlineservice provider 130. For instance, the online service provider 130 maydeny the user 110 access to protected functionality, may deny the userunrestricted access to one or more online services, and/or may refuse togrant the user 100 a “trusted” status/badge.

In an example embodiment, the online service provider 130 may provideone or more online services, which may include an online social networkor online professional network, as some examples. Other examples mayinclude advertising services, payment services, blogs, online publishingservices, online photo albums, online dating service, among a number ofother online services. In the case of an online social or professionalnetworking service, a user may enter various pieces of personalinformation to create a user profile for use with the social orprofessional networking service.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment of such a userprofile 200. FIG. 2 will be described with further reference to thesystem 100 of FIG. 1, in which such a user profile 200 may beimplemented.

Depending on the particular embodiment, the user profile 200 may be madeavailable to multiple online service providers for the purpose ofproviding online services or other services to an associated user. Forinstance, the user profile 200 may be used for multiple services withina company, or may be made available to (shared with) other companieswith complementary services. For instance, the user profile 200 may beused for online shopping purposes if the user has included bank accountor credit card information in the profile 200 in addition to using theuser profile 200 for an online professional networking service. In otherexample embodiments, if a user 110 wishes to use online services fromdifferent online service providers, in an example embodiment, the userprofile 200 may be accessed by the multiple online service providers aspart of the process of them providing their respective online services.Such an approach allows the user to create a single user profile 200that is used by multiple online service providers rather than the userhaving to take the time to create individual profiles with eachrespective online service provider. In the case of a shared user profile200, login/password procedures may be implemented that are trusted byeach online service provider that accesses the user profile 200. Such anapproach may insure that that information and updates to the userprofile 200 are respected by the companies accessing the user profile200.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user profile 200 may include various pieces ofinformation about the user 110. For instance, the profile 200 mayinclude a name, phone number, mailing address, email address, currentemployer, one or more previous employers, a credit card number, a bankaccount number, [billing address, shipping address, backup emailaddress, academic institutions the user 110 has attended andprofessional organizations to which the user 110 belongs. The userprofile 200 may also include a number of other profile informationitems. In an example embodiment, if the user profile 200 is a businessprofile, the profile 200 may include retail locations, employees,website addresses, etc. The particular items included in the userprofile 200 may depend on the particular online services provided by theonline service providers that make use of the user profile 200.

As is also shown in FIG. 2, the user profile 200 may include a contactlist 210 of the user 110. Contact list 210 may include contactinformation for friends and/or business associates of the user 110. Ifmultiple online service providers make use of the user profile 200, someor all of the information included in the user profile 200 may be sharedwith the various online service providers. In an example embodiment, theuser 110 may determine the particular pieces of information of the userprofile 200 to which each online service provider has access. As anexample, a user could choose to share contacts or subsets of contactswith an online service provider, decide which information each servicecan display to the outside world, etc.

When creating the user profile 200, the user 110 may enter values foreach item of the user profile 200 using, for example, a GUI provided bythe online service provider 130 to the user terminal 120. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the user profile 200 is for a user Joe Smith with a phonenumber of 408-555-1234 and mailing address 5432 Main St., San JoseCalif. 95101. In the user profile 200, an email address for Joe Smith ofjoesmith@google.com is included along with an indication of a currentemployer of Google. Also included in the user profile 200 is anindication of a previous employer of Apple, a credit card number, a bankaccount number, an indication that the user 110 attended StanfordUniversity and an indication that the user 110 is a member of the IEEEprofessional organization.

After receiving the profile information included in the user profile200, the online service provider 130 may verify some or all of theinformation included in the profile 200. For instance, when the profile200 is created, the online service provider 130 may verify the phonenumber and/or address included in the profile 200 by matching them tothe name included in the profile 200. This verification may be doneusing the techniques described herein, or using any other appropriateapproach. For example, verification of the phone number and mailingaddress may be done using data verification and a user challenge, as wasdescribed above. In another example embodiment, verification of profileinformation items included in the profile 200 may be done using onlydata verification, e.g., by querying a trusted database.

As shown in FIG. 2, the profile 200 may also include, for each profileinformation item, an indication of whether or not each profileinformation item has been verified, the method (e.g., a specific trusteddatabase) used to verify the profile information item (if verificationhas been done), a company or entity that performed the verification andthe date the verification (if any) for each item was performed. In anexample embodiment, another online service provider may request that oneor more of the profile information items be verified (if not previouslyverified) or that a re-verification be done if the verification date isnot consistent with the requirements of the particular online serviceprovider. If an online service provider requests verification orre-verification of a profile information item, the profile 200 may beupdated to reflect the most recent verification status for that item. Insuch an approach, other online service providers accessing the userprofile 200 may also benefit from the updated verification status forthe items of the user profile 200. In an example embodiment,verification history for each of the items in the profile 200 may bekept.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example embodiment of a method for verifying anonline user using data verification and a user challenge, such aspreviously discussed with respect to FIG. 1. FIGS. 3B and 3C illustrateexample embodiments for performing a user challenge. FIGS. 3A-C willalso be described with further reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example method 300 for verifying a user (e.g.,the user 110) using data verification and a user challenge, where theuser challenge is performed such that the user 110 demonstrates accessto a verified channel (e.g., that is associated with verified datalisted in the user profile 200). The method 300 may include, at block305, the online service provider 130 requesting (e.g., via a GUI) a nameof the user 110 in response to the user requesting access to an onlineservice. The GUI requesting the user 110′s name may also request useridentifying information associated with the user's name. As discussedabove, the user identifying information may be, for example, a telephonenumber and/or a mailing address, or some other information associatedwith the user. At block 310, the method 300 may include querying atrusted database (the trusted database 150) based on the user's name andthe user identifying information. For instance, the online serviceprovider 130 may send a query to a trusted telephone directory database.Such a query may include, for example, the name, address and telephonenumber provided by the user 110.

At block 315, the method 300 may include determining if a match existsin the trusted database 150 between the user's name and the useridentifying information. In this example, the determination may includethe online service provider receiving a response to the query from thetrusted database 150. As previously described, the response from thetrusted database 150 may indicate that a match to the data included inthe query was found, a mismatch was found or no data was found. In theevent that a match exists, at block 320, the method 300 may includechallenging the user to demonstrate access to a channel associated withthe verified information (verified channel, as discussed above), forexample, using a verification code in any of the fashions that werepreviously discussed.

At block 325, the method 300 may include determining a verificationstatus of the user's identity based on a result of the challenge. Forinstance, if the user provides a correct verification code, theverification status may be determined as verified/trusted.Alternatively, if the correct code is not provided, the verificationstatus may be determined as unverified/untrusted.

At block 330, the method 300 may include designating the user's identityas verified or unverified in accordance with the verification status.For example, the determined verification status may be assigned to theuser profile 200, indicating that a person associated with that profileis trusted (e.g., allowed to access online services) or is not trusted(e.g., not allowed to access online services).

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating an example method 330 for performinga user challenge. At block 335, the method 330 may include providing acode (verification code) to the user 110. As discussed above and infurther detail below, a number of approaches for providing averification code to the user may be used. At block 340, the method 330may include calling a verified phone number provided by the user (e.g.,a phone number verified using the trusted database 150). At block 345,the method 330 may include prompting the user 110 to enter the providedcode via the called telephone, such as by using an automated voiceprompt, for example. At block 350, the method 300 may further includereceiving an entered (user) verification code from the user 110 via thecalled telephone (e.g., using the telephone's keypad). In the event theuser verification code matches the code provided by the online serviceprovider 130, the method 330, at block 355, may include designating theuser 110′s identity as verified and allowing the user 110 access toonline services provided by the online service provider 130.

FIG. 3C is a flowchart illustrating another example method 360 forconducting a user challenge based on data verified using a trusteddatabase (database 150). At block 365, the method 360 may includecalling the verified telephone number and, at block 370, providing averification code to the user via the called telephone, or using any ofthe techniques described here. At block 375, the method 360 may furtherinclude providing an online GUI for entering the code. Such a GUI may beprovided in any appropriate fashion, such as using the techniquesdescribed above. At block 380, the method 360 may also include receivingan entered code via the online GUI, such as by the user 110 entering thecode using the user terminal 120 in the GUI and transmitting the enteredcode to the online service provider 130 via a data network, for example.In the event the entered code matches the provided code, the method 360may still further include, at block 385, designating the user's identityas verified and allowing the user access to online services provided bythe online service provider 130.

As discussed above, other techniques for providing a verification codeto a user may be employed. For instance, a verification code may beprovided in an SMS message sent to a verified mobile telephone number.Alternatively, a verification code may be provided using a verifiedemail address or a verified physical mailing address. In other exampleembodiments, the user verification code may be communicated to theonline service provider using any appropriate technique. For instance,the user verification code may be communicated to the online serviceprovider 130 in an SMS message sent from a verified mobile telephonenumber or in an email from a verified email address.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment of an interface400 for providing a verification code 410 to the user 110. The interface400 may be included, for example, in a web-based GUI. Alternatively, theinterface 400 may be included in an SMS message or an email message. Theinterface 400 may also include a button 420 (such as in a web-based GUI)that the user 110 may click to initiate a phone call from the onlineservice provider 130 for entering the verification code.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an interface 500 for the user 110 torequest a call to receive a verification code and then enter theverification code for transmission to the online service provider 130.As with the interface 400 illustrated in FIG. 4, the interface 500 maybe a web-based interface or may be implemented in another fashion. Asshown in FIG. 5, the interface 500 may include a button 510 that, whenclicked by the user 110, will initiate a phone call to a verifiedtelephone number. The call may be made by the online service provider130 and the verification code may be provided to the user 110 during thecall. For instance, text-to-speech software may be used to provide theverification code to the user 110.

The interface 500 may also include a field 510 that may be used by theuser 110 to enter the provided verification code, e.g., using the userterminal 120. The interface 500 may further include a button 520 (suchas in a web-based GUI) that the user 110 may click to transmit anentered code to the online service provider 130 to complete a userchallenge, such as in the manners previously discussed.

Other techniques may also be used to carry out a user challenge. Forexample, a challenge transaction can be made to a user's credit cardaccount or bank account. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exampleembodiment of such a challenge transaction 600. As shown in FIG. 6, thechallenge transaction may include a transaction date 610, a transactiondescription 620 and a transaction amount 630. The transactiondescription 620 may include a verification code that a user may thenprovide to an online service provider to complete a user challenge.Alternatively, the online service provider may request that the userprovide the transaction amount 620 to complete the user challenge.

As was discussed above, in an example embodiment, user informationcontained in a user profile, such as the user profile 200 illustrated inFIG. 2, may be shared by multiple online service providers. Such anapproach may allow a user to create a single persistent profile 200,that may be verified and maintained by a first online service providerand accessed by a number of other online service providers. Sharing theprofile 200 may prevent the user 110 from having to create and verifyhis or her profile information for each online service provider the user110 wishes to use. As is discussed further below, in an exampleembodiment, an online service provider that maintains such persistentuser profiles may provide fee-based profile verification services toother online service providers.

In another example embodiment, a first online service provider mayreceive profile information items from a user it wishes to verify, butthe first online service provider may not implement the functionality toconduct the user identity verification. In such a situation, the firstonline service provider may provide the profile information items to asecond online service provider (e.g., in a verification request) and thesecond online service provider may conduct a verification of one or moreof the user profile items and provide the verification results to thefirst online service provider. Once the verification is completed, thesame user may then share his or her profile across service providers. Insuch an approach, the service providers that access the profile mayshare profile updates. For instance, the verifying service provider'sprofile for the user may be used as a master, shared profile.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 700 for creationand maintenance of such a persistent, shared user profile 200. Themethod 700 may include, at block 705, receiving a plurality of profileinformation items from a user, such as the profile information itemsillustrated in the profile 200 in FIG. 2. At block 710, the method 700may include storing, at a first entity (e.g., a first online serviceprovider), the profile information items in an identification profile(e.g., the user profile 200) associated with the user (e.g., the user110). At block 715, the method 700 may include verifying at least one ofthe profile information items. Such verification may be done using thetechniques described herein, or using any other appropriate technique.

At block 720, the method 700 may further include storing, as part of theidentification profile 200, a verification status corresponding with theverification performed at block 715. As was discussed above, theverification status may include, for each profile information item, anindication of whether the profile information item has been verified ornot. If the profile information item has been verified, the verificationstatus may further include an indication of how the item was verified(e.g., the trusted database used) and the date on which the verificationwas done.

The method 700 may further include, at block 725, receiving, at thefirst entity (e.g., the first online service provider), a request, froma second entity (a second online service provider), for one or more ofthe profile information items. For example, the second online serviceprovider may request a user's name, address and phone number. At block730, the method 700 may further include providing, from the first entityto the second entity, the requested profile information items and theverification status.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another example method 800 forcreation and maintenance of such a persistent, shared user profile 200.At block 805, in like fashion as block 705 of the method 700, the method800 may include receiving a plurality of profile information items froma user, such as the profile information items illustrated in the profile200 in FIG. 2. At block 810, in like fashion as block 710 of the method700, the method 800 may include storing, at a first entity (e.g., afirst online service provider), the profile information items in anidentification profile (e.g., the user profile 200) associated with theuser (e.g. the user 110).

At block 815, the method 800 may include receiving, at the first entity(the first online service provider), a request from a second entity (asecond online service provider) for one or more of the profileinformation items. The method 800 may further include, at block 815,providing, from the first entity to the second entity, the profileinformation items requested by the second entity and a verificationstatus, where the verification status indicates, for each providedprofile item, that the profile information items have not yet beenverified. At block 820, the method 800 may further include, receiving,at the first entity, a verification request from the second entity toperform a verification of one or more of the provided profileinformation items. In the method 800, the request, at block 820, toperform the verification, may be made in response to the verificationstatus indicating that the requested profile information items have notbeen previously verified.

In an example embodiment, the verification request at block 820 may alsoinclude a budget for performing the verification. For instance, atrusted database lookup may represent a cost of ten cents and a userchallenge phone call may represent a of cost twenty-five cents.Therefore, in order to complete such a verification including the userchallenge phone call, the corresponding verification request shouldindicate a budget of thirty-five cents for performing the verification,as one example. A business operating the second entity would then paythe business operation the first entity thirty-five cents in payment forcarrying out the verification request. For instance, if one dataverification request does not find a match (i.e., there is no dataavailable), additional trusted databases may be consulted, at additionalcost, until either the budget is used up, a match is found, or amismatch is found (i.e., it is confirmed that the user is not the personthey claim to be.

At block 825, the method 800 may further include verifying the one ormore profile information items indicated in the verification request. Inan example embodiment, the verification performed at block 825 may becarried out in accordance with a budget, as discussed above, that isindicated in the verification request from the second entity. At block830, the method 800 may further include updating the verification statusof the user profile based on the verification done at block 825. Themethod 800, at block 835 may still further include receiving, at thefirst entity, a request from a third entity (e.g., a third onlineservice provider) for one or more of the profile information items. Themethod 800, at block 840, may also include providing, from the firstentity to the third entity, the profile information items requested bythe third entity and the updated verification status.

In other example embodiment, an online service provider may also make averification request for profile information items where, based on theverification status, the verification date in the user profile indicatesthat the verification date for the profile information items exceeds averification freshness threshold. For instance, an online serviceprovider may require that a user's mailing address and/or phone numberbe verified once per month. In such an approach, if the lastverification date for a user's mailing address and/or phone numberindicated in the verification status is more than one month ago, theonline service provider may, at block 820 of the method 800, requestthat the mailing address and/or phone number be re-verified.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a generic computer device 900 and a genericmobile computer device 950, which may be used with the techniquesdescribed here. Computing device 900 is intended to represent variousforms of digital computers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations,personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, andother appropriate computers. Computing device 950 is intended torepresent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digitalassistants, cellular telephones, smart phones, and other similarcomputing devices. The components shown here, their connections andrelationships, and their functions, are meant to be exemplary only, andare not meant to limit implementations of the inventions describedand/or claimed in this document.

Computing device 900 includes a processor 902, memory 904, a storagedevice 906, a high-speed interface 908 connecting to memory 904 andhigh-speed expansion ports 910, and a low speed interface 912 connectingto low speed bus 914 and storage device 906. Each of the components 902,904, 906, 908, 910, and 912, are interconnected using various busses,and may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners asappropriate. The processor 902 can process instructions for executionwithin the computing device 900, including instructions stored in thememory 904 or on the storage device 906 to display graphical informationfor a GUI on an external input/output device, such as display 916coupled to high speed interface 908. In other implementations, multipleprocessors and/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along withmultiple memories and types of memory. Also, multiple computing devices900 may be connected, with each device providing portions of thenecessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of blade servers,or a multi-processor system).

The memory 904 stores information within the computing device 900. Inone implementation, the memory 904 is a volatile memory unit or units.In another implementation, the memory 904 is a non-volatile memory unitor units. The memory 904 may also be another form of computer-readablemedium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.

The storage device 906 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device 900. In one implementation, the storage device 906 maybe or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy disk device,a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, a flashmemory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array ofdevices, including devices in a storage area network or otherconfigurations. A computer program product can be tangibly embodied inan information carrier. The computer program product may also containinstructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such asthose described above. The information carrier is a computer- ormachine-readable medium, such as the memory 904, the storage device 906,or memory on processor 902.

The high speed controller 908 manages bandwidth-intensive operations forthe computing device 900, while the low speed controller 912 manageslower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation of functions isexemplary only. In one implementation, the high-speed controller 908 iscoupled to memory 904, display 916 (e.g., through a graphics processoror accelerator), and to high-speed expansion ports 910, which may acceptvarious expansion cards (not shown). In the implementation, low-speedcontroller 912 is coupled to storage device 906 and low-speed expansionport 914. The low-speed expansion port, which may include variouscommunication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet)may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as a keyboard,a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as a switch orrouter, e.g., through a network adapter.

The computing device 900 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as astandard server 920, or multiple times in a group of such servers. Itmay also be implemented as part of a rack server system 924. Inaddition, it may be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptopcomputer 922. Alternatively, components from computing device 900 may becombined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such asdevice 950. Each of such devices may contain one or more of computingdevice 900, 950, and an entire system may be made up of multiplecomputing devices 900, 950 communicating with each other.

Computing device 950 includes a processor 952, memory 964, aninput/output device such as a display 954, a communication interface966, and a transceiver 968, among other components. The device 950 mayalso be provided with a storage device, such as a microdrive or otherdevice, to provide additional storage. Each of the components 950, 952,964, 954, 966, and 968, are interconnected using various buses, andseveral of the components may be mounted on a common motherboard or inother manners as appropriate.

The processor 952 can execute instructions within the computing device950, including instructions stored in the memory 964. The processor maybe implemented as a chipset of chips that include separate and multipleanalog and digital processors. The processor may provide, for example,for coordination of the other components of the device 950, such ascontrol of user interfaces, applications run by device 950, and wirelesscommunication by device 950.

Processor 952 may communicate with a user through control interface 958and display interface 956 coupled to a display 954. The display 954 maybe, for example, a TFT LCD (Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display)or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, or other appropriatedisplay technology. The display interface 956 may comprise appropriatecircuitry for driving the display 954 to present graphical and otherinformation to a user. The control interface 958 may receive commandsfrom a user and convert them for submission to the processor 952. Inaddition, an external interface 962 may be provide in communication withprocessor 952, so as to enable near area communication of device 950with other devices. External interface 962 may provide, for example, forwired communication in some implementations, or for wirelesscommunication in other implementations, and multiple interfaces may alsobe used.

The memory 964 stores information within the computing device 950. Thememory 964 can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readablemedium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatilememory unit or units. Expansion memory 974 may also be provided andconnected to device 950 through expansion interface 972, which mayinclude, for example, a SIMM (Single In Line Memory Module) cardinterface. Such expansion memory 974 may provide extra storage space fordevice 950, or may also store applications or other information fordevice 950. Specifically, expansion memory 974 may include instructionsto carry out or supplement the processes described above, and mayinclude secure information also. Thus, for example, expansion memory 974may be provide as a security module for device 950, and may beprogrammed with instructions that permit secure use of device 950. Inaddition, secure applications may be provided via the SIMM cards, alongwith additional information, such as placing identifying information onthe SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.

The memory may include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory,as discussed below. In one implementation, a computer program product istangibly embodied in an information carrier. The computer programproduct contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or moremethods, such as those described above. The information carrier is acomputer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory 964, expansionmemory 974, or memory on processor 952, that may be received, forexample, over transceiver 968 or external interface 962.

Device 950 may communicate wirelessly through communication interface966, which may include digital signal processing circuitry wherenecessary. Communication interface 966 may provide for communicationsunder various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls, SMS, EMS, orMMS messaging, CDMA, TDMA, PDC, WCDMA, CDMA2000, or GPRS, among others.Such communication may occur, for example, through radio-frequencytransceiver 968. In addition, short-range communication may occur, suchas using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). Inaddition, GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module 970 mayprovide additional navigation- and location-related wireless data todevice 950, which may be used as appropriate by applications running ondevice 950.

Device 950 may also communicate audibly using audio codec 960, which mayreceive spoken information from a user and convert it to usable digitalinformation. Audio codec 960 may likewise generate audible sound for auser, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset of device 950. Suchsound may include sound from voice telephone calls, may include recordedsound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and may also includesound generated by applications operating on device 950.

The computing device 950 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as acellular telephone 980. It may also be implemented as part of a smartphone 982, personal digital assistant, or other similar mobile device.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms “machine-readable medium”“computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablemedium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed here can be implemented on a computer having a display device(e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor)for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provideinput to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide forinteraction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to theuser can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback,auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can bereceived in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a dataserver), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computerhaving a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a usercan interact with an implementation of the systems and techniquesdescribed here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, orfront end components. The components of the system can be interconnectedby any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., acommunication network). Examples of communication networks include alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), and theInternet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

A number of embodiments have been described. Nevertheless, it will beunderstood that various modifications may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. In addition, other steps may be provided, or steps may beeliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be addedto, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly, otherembodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

1. A computer-implemented method comprising: sending, by an onlineservice provider system to a user, a request for: a name; and useridentifying information associated with the provided name; querying, bythe online service provider system, a trusted database based on theprovided name and the user identifying information; determining, by theonline service provider system, based on a result of the query, if amatch exists in the database between the provided name and the useridentifying information; in the event a match exists, presenting, by theonline service provider system, a challenge to the user, the challengebeing based on the user identifying information; determining, by theonline service provider system, a verification status of the user'sidentity based on a result of the challenge; and designating, by theonline service provider system, the user's identity as verified orunverified in accordance with the verification status.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the user identifyinginformation comprises a telephone number; the trusted database comprisesa telephone directory database; and presenting the challenge comprisesthe online service provider system: providing a code to the user;calling the telephone number; prompting the user to enter the providedcode via the called telephone; receiving an entered code from the uservia the called telephone; and in the event the entered code matches theprovided code, designating, by the online service provider system, theuser's identity as verified.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein: the user identifying information comprises a telephonenumber; the trusted database comprises a telephone directory database;and presenting the challenge comprises the online service providersystem: calling the telephone number; providing a code to the user viathe called telephone; providing an online graphical interface forentering the code; receiving an entered code; and in the event theentered code matches the provided code, designating, by the onlineservice provider system, the user's identity as being verified.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the user identifyinginformation comprises a mobile telephone number; the trusted databasecomprises a mobile telephone directory database; and presenting thechallenge comprises the online service provider system: sending a shortmessaging system (SMS) message to the mobile telephone number, the SMSmessage including a code; providing an online graphical interface forentering the code; receiving an entered code; and in the event theentered code matches the provided code, designating, by the onlineservice provider system, the user's identity as verified.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the user identifyinginformation comprises an account number of a credit card account; thetrusted database comprises a database associating credit cardholders'names with corresponding credit card account numbers; and presenting thechallenge comprises the online service provider system: carrying out atransaction on the credit card account; providing an online graphicalinterface for requesting information regarding the transaction;receiving entered transaction information; and in the event the enteredtransaction information matches the requested transaction information,designating, by the online service provider system, the user's identityas verified.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein therequested transaction information comprises an amount of thetransaction.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein therequested transaction information comprises a code included in adescription of the transaction.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein: the user identifying information comprises an accountnumber of a bank account; the trusted database comprises a databaseassociating bank account numbers with accountholders' names; andpresenting the challenge comprises the online service provider system:carrying out a transaction on the bank account; providing an onlinegraphical interface for requesting information regarding thetransaction; receiving entered transaction information; and in the eventthe entered information matches the requested information, designating,by the online service provider system, the user's identity as verified.9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the useridentifying information comprises an email address; the trusted databasecomprises a database associating email addresses with names ofcorresponding email account holders; and presenting the challengecomprises the online service provider system: emailing a code to theemail address; providing an online graphical interface for entering thecode; receiving an entered code; and in the event the entered codematches the emailed code, designating, by the online service providersystem, the user's identity as verified.
 10. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein: the user identifying information comprisesan email address; the trusted database comprises a database associatingemail addresses with names of corresponding email account holders; andpresenting the challenge comprises the online service provider system:providing a code to the user; sending an email to the user requestingthe code; receiving a response email including an entered code; and inthe event the entered code matches the provided code, designating, bythe online service provider system, the user's identity as verified. 11.A computer program product tangibly embodied on a computer-readablemedium and including executable instructions that, when executed, areconfigured to cause one or more data processing apparatuses to: request,from a user: a name; and user identifying information associated withthe provided name; query a trusted database based on the provided nameand the user identifying information; determine if a match exists in thedatabase between the provided name and the user identifying information;in the event a match exists, presenting a challenge to the user, thechallenge being based on the user identifying information; determine averification status of the user's identity based on a result of thechallenge; and designate the user's identity as verified or unverifiedin accordance with the verification status.
 12. The computer programproduct of claim 11, wherein: the user identifying information comprisesa telephone number; the trusted database comprises a telephone directorydatabase; and presenting the challenge comprises: providing a code tothe user; calling the telephone number; prompting the user to enter theprovided code via the called telephone; receiving an entered code fromthe user via the called telephone; and in the event the entered codematches the provided code, designating the user's identity as verified.13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein: the useridentifying information comprises a telephone number; the trusteddatabase comprises a telephone directory database; and presenting thechallenge comprises: calling the telephone number; providing a code tothe user via the called telephone; providing an online graphicalinterface for entering the code; receiving an entered code; and in theevent the entered code matches the provided code, designating the user'sidentity as verified.
 14. The computer program product of claim 11,wherein: the user identifying information comprises a mobile telephonenumber; the trusted database comprises a telephone directory database;and presenting the challenge comprises: sending a short messaging system(SMS) message to the mobile telephone number, the SMS message includinga code; providing an online graphical interface for entering the code;receiving an entered code; and in the event the entered code matches theprovided code, designating the user's identity as verified.
 15. Thecomputer program product of claim 11, wherein: the user identifyinginformation comprises an account number of a credit card account; thetrusted database comprises a database associating credit cardholders'names with corresponding credit card account numbers; and presenting thechallenge comprises: carrying out a transaction on the credit cardaccount; providing an online graphical interface for requestinginformation regarding the transaction; receiving entered transactioninformation; and in the event the entered transaction informationmatches the requested transaction information, designating the user'sidentity as verified.
 16. The computer program product of claim 11,wherein: the user identifying information comprises an account number ofa bank account; the trusted database comprises a database associatingbank account numbers with accountholders' names; and presenting thechallenge comprises: carrying out a transaction on the bank account;providing an online graphical interface for requesting informationregarding the transaction; receiving entered transaction information;and in the event the entered transaction information matches therequested transaction information, designating the user's identity asverified.
 17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein: theuser identifying information comprises an email address; the trusteddatabase comprises a database associating email addresses with names ofcorresponding email account holders; and presenting the challengecomprises: emailing a code to the email address; providing an onlinegraphical interface for entering the code; receiving an entered code;and in the event the entered code matches the emailed code, designatingthe user's identity as verified.
 18. The computer program product ofclaim 11, wherein: the user identifying information comprises an emailaddress; the trusted database comprises a database associating emailaddresses with names of corresponding email account holders; andpresenting the challenge comprises: providing a code to the user;sending an email to the user requesting the code; receiving, from theemail address, a response email including an entered code; and in theevent the entered code matches the provided code, designating the user'sidentity as verified.
 19. A system comprising: a server configured toprovide online services to one or more users; one or morecomputer-readable media including machine-executable instructions; oneor more instruction processors configured to execute at least a portionof the machine-executable instructions stored in the computer-readablemedia, wherein execution of the instructions, in response to a requestfrom a user for access to the online services, results in: requesting,from the user: a name; and user identifying information associated withthe provided name; querying a trusted database based on the providedname and the user identifying information; determining if a match existsin the database between the provided name and the user identifyinginformation; in the event a match exists, presenting a challenge to theuser, the challenge being based on the user identifying information;determining a verification status of the user's identity based on aresult of the challenge; and designating the user's identity as verifiedor unverified in accordance with the verification status.